THE HOUSE THAT JOY BUILT by Holly Ringland

Last year, one of my favourite Australian authors, Holly Ringland, released a wonderful book about creativity called The House That Joy Built. I rushed out and bought it, and started to read it, but simply couldn’t connect to it.

At the time, I was deep in grief, after the death of my sister. It wasn’t that Holly’s words didn’t resonate. I just wasn’t in the right headspace.

I have recently been feeling the urge to create coming back, after a long hiatus. I have long enjoyed artistic practice, including painting and drawing, collage and textiles. I have not had those feelings for close to 18 months, but recently I have wanted to quietly, slowly find my way back in.

I picked up The House The Joy Built, knowing that I love Holly’s books and having a lot in common with her. This book changed nothing - if anything, I have realised we share a lot from our childhoods and adulthoods!

This book is not a how to book, nor is it particularly preachy (thank goodness!). What Holly does in this book is talk about aspects of her life that had stripped her of her creativity, how that impacted her and how she found her way through those challenges. Holly acknowledges that what has worked for her may not work for everyone, and that’s kind of the point. We are all different as people, so what works for one won’t necessarily be what is best for the next person.

What Holly focuses on is the WHY - why creativity is important, even for those who don’t think they are creatively natured.

Holly talks about the barriers to creativity - at least, what we allow to be barriers, and gives examples of how those are real feelings but can also be overcome. She draws from experts in a range of topics, such as Brene Brown, Julia Cameron, Ben Crowe and more. This resulted in me doing something I rarely do - I wrote notes in the margins of this book and I tabbed important pages, with things I underlined. Look at me being BRAVE!

I’m so glad I have felt some creative urges recently and that I was in the right space to receive the messages in The House That Joy Built. I think it was the right book for the right time, for me. Holly is a beautiful writer (and I’ll say a beautiful human - but then I am a fangirl for sure!) and there is so much tenderness and kindness infused in her words.

Now, to start finding my way back into my creative space, without the expectation of experiencing anything except the JOY of simply doing so.